Due to increased government regulation and tighter guidelines from lenders themselves, lenders are being more careful and loans are taking longer to process. What does this mean to you? If you are trying to get the new home buyer tax credit or if you are trying to close before a given deadline, make sure you give your lender more time. How much time? In some cases lenders can need an additional 1 or 2 weeks beyond what they needed before and most lenders aren't even all that busy yet. Due to the new home buyer tax credit you might see lenders getting really busy - soon though. As an realtor I'm seeing a good number of homes going under contract so I think it will get busy.